Regional semifinal loss doesn’t erase memorable Shelby football season

TIFFIN — The first thing Shelby coach Rob Mahaney did Saturday night after his team’s most painful loss was remind them of its biggest successes this season.

Minutes after his team dropped a 35-21 decision to Clyde in a Division IV regional semifinal playoff game, Mahaney gathered his team around and reminded the Whippets what they talked about when he took over the program in the spring.

A loss at Tiffin’s Frost-Kalmow Stadium to a perennial power Fliers team in week 12 didn’t change any of that.

“We wanted to hang a (championship) banner. We talked about 125 years of Shelby football. We wanted 2019 to be a year people would remember. We did that two times, winning the Mid-Ohio Athletic Conference championship and making the playoffs, as well,” Mahaney said.

The loss ended Shelby’s season at 8-4. Clyde (9-3) advances to next Saturday’s regional title game against Ottawa-Glandorf (9-3), which defeated Wauseon, 21-14, in its regional semifinal.

TALE OF TWO HALVES: It was a game of two markedly different halves.

Shelby dominated the first 24 minutes, taking a 21-7 lead into halftime on a 9-yard TD run by junior running back Owen Fisher and two TD passes from senior QB McGwire Albert to senior Evan Bogner (20 yards) and sophomore Andre Hill (24 yards).

Fisher rushed for 112 yards on 15 carries in the first half while Albert connected on 11 of 18 passes for 151 yards.

Clyde’s only score of the half was a 2-yard run by 5-9, 200-pound workhouse Gunner Golden.

The Fliers owned the second half, scoring four unanswered TDs and outscoring the Whippets 28-0 over the final 24 minutes.

Senior QB Ryan Lozier connected on TD passes of 40 and 42 yards to 6-4 senior wide receiver Carson Rieman to tie the game at 21 with 3:56 left in the third quarter.

The final period belong to Golden, who scored on runs of 19 and 40 yards, the second coming with just 5:34 left, putting the game away.

Fisher, who finished the season with 1,713 yards and 17 rushing TDs, was limited to just 15 yards on five carries in the second half. Albert completed just five of 13 passes for 43 yards.

“In the second half, they obviously made some big passes, some big plays in the area that kinda got us,” Mahaney said. “Offensively, I felt like we could never get started. We had some bad field position, made some mistakes on the kickoff returns, ball security wasn’t great …

“One thing I am proud of this team … we continued to fight all the way to the end. We just didn’t get the breaks we needed in the second half,” Mahaney said.

TOUGH SCHEDULE: To Clyde Coach Ryan Carter, whose team is making its seventh straight post-season appearance, the regular season prepared the Fliers for the playoffs.

Clyde competed in the larger Sandusky Bay Conference, playing five playoff-qualifying teams during the regular seaso, including D-III participants Tiffin Columbian (9-2), Sandusky (9-3) and Norwalk (9-3).

“I think our schedule is tough, but that’s a good (Shelby) football team right there. They came out and threw some punches and we didn’t react very well. We made some adjustments (at halftime), mainly (telling the players) to just do your own job and not trying to do too much.

“But give them credit. They made some plays in the first half. I thought we wore on them, that’s part of the league we play in. We played in a lot of four-quarter games, a lot of games that have been tough, knockout games. We had some games where we were down quite a bit and had to try to fight back. That wasn’t uncharted territory to our kids,” Carter said.

“But we gotta stop doing this or I am gonna get a lot older a lot faster,” he said.

How did the Fliers shut down Fisher, a versatile back who had multiple 200-yard rushing games this season?

“We did a little bit better job of tackling. Part of that is wearing him down. We took shots on him all night. We adjusted a few things, but the main thing was tackling and continuing to wear him down,” Carter said.

Mahaney credited the Clyde defensive line in the second half.

“They stepped it up and I just think we weren’t necessarily ready for it,” he said. “I just felt we had some miscues, some penalties … it was kind of a weird second half.”

“We knew they were a good football team. We knew they were battle-tested, playing in that conference. We knew we had to come out in the second half and execute and we just didn’t do that,” he said.

The Whippets lose just nine seniors from the team, but their departure leaves a void.

“I can’t thank them enough. The buy-in to what I was saying … it started in the summer, the relationships and the bonds grow very fast. These guys … I will cherish the time we had. They made this first season very enjoyable for me. I love those guys and I will do anything I can for them the rest of their lives,” Mahaney said.

STATISTICALLY SPEAKING: Clyde had a 404-344 edge in total yards with 246 rushing on 43 carries and 158 yards on 14 attempts. Shelby had 150 yards on the ground on 31 attempts and 194 passing on 31 tries.

Lozier finished eight of 13 passing for 158 yards and the two TDs. Golden rushed for 125 yards on 20 carries, scoring three TDs, while Lozier added 75 on 16 attempts. Rieman had six catches for 128 yards, averaging 21.3 per reception.

Albert finished 16 of 31 passing for 194 yards and two scores. Fisher finished with 120 yards on 20 attempts while Albert had 23 yards on 11 carries. Sophomore Blaine Bowman led the Whippets with 91 yards receiving on five receptions. Fisher had five catches for 22 yards.